Black Sweater, White Cat is the home of the One-a-Day Project.
BSWC puts a focus on Creative Commons or copyleft music from around the internet and the world. Playlists, podcast feed, links, topical posts, random thoughts. Thanks for listening.

Apr 29, 2015

Sometimes it pays to look back through our Black Sweater White Cat playlists, when we hosted a two or three hour Creative Commons only show on WBCR-LP in Great Barrington Massachusetts. One of these look-backs brought me to Beth Quist, who is credited as the reason that Magnatune was started.

You can read more on her Magnatune bio page, and you can listen to her music and buy any of her four albums. Beth was Magnatune's best seller for three years. This is not a huge surprise, her voice is pretty damn amazing.

In BSWC history, we played a number of her songs in 2005 and 2006. This song, Monsters, was not on any of those playlists, so it makes its debut today, 12 years after being released. It is the third track on her album Silver.

Apr 23, 2015

The netlabel Evoke Records goes back to 1995 with it's roots as an art label with physical releases distributed mostly at art galleries. Later it morphed into a digital netlabel.

They recently re-released their catalog to mark their 10th anniversary. Evoke artist, April had a great collection called Age of the Moon. We are pleased to present the title track. In fact, we are especially pleased because it fits in with the space part of our Space and Sex preoccupation.

Apr 21, 2015

Here is an older, perhaps wiser version of Nambavan. He has appeared on the BSWC radio program here, here, here, here, and here. He also has a track in the One-a-Day feed that was posted February 20, 2007. Ok, we really like the guy.This tune is from a WM Recordings release from May 20, 2011 called Modnay Discoteka. Nambavan is Linar Bilalov. He is originally from Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan (also known as the "Third Capital of Russia").

...a bright young man with a
passion for Rodchenko, Bauhaus and '70s gay disco, thrust into a vortex
of small-town degradation. He christened himself Nambavan (a corruption
of Number One) and recorded a couple of albums' worth of aggressive
minimal techno with crass, no-holds-barred lyrics. "Chechnya on the
Dancefloor," "So Many Men, So Little Time," "I Passed Your Girlfriend
Around," "Babu Po Ebalu!!!" were all shock value and no hidden message.
The music, however, was quite remarkable for something recorded on a
home computer with a cheap guitar and a karaoke mike. His ear-scarring
barrage of raw hate and stories of abuse spread over the Web like fire
through a city dump. A gig in Berlin and a dozen good reviews later,
Linar decided that simply singing from the dark corners of a thug's
skull was not enough.

Apr 20, 2015

We decided to take a loop through ccMixter.org to see what's up. Smooth dance rhythm with a message anyone?Loveshadow and Snowflake sound like they have been working together in a studio for years. No, Snowflake provides the 'pella and Loveshadow lays the tracks down.If you have been around this blog over the years you will know that we love our ccMixter. If you haven't, then get on over and experience the outrageously huge collection of Creative Commons mixing that have happening over there the past 10 or so years. If you are looking for the definitive search tool for the site there is dig.ccmixter.org. Take it for a spin.Loveshadow - This LifeBoat (Let's Change)

Apr 19, 2015

We are going to stay with Japanese netlabel Tanukineiri Records and are pleased to present their latest release, Primitive by Parapunte. This release hit the streets on Friday.

Dreamy Indie J-pop (yep, biotic tried to describe something).

Tanukineiri Records is based in Nagoya, Japan and as well as being a respectable netlabel also has a business in Japanese tableware.

Google doesn't do a particularly good job translating Japanese, but here is some text:

Osaka resident, by singer-songwriter Terry SusumuAkira and Akutsu Masumi1st mini album of indie pop duo "Parupunte" "primitive". Artwork, cartoonist, PV director, VJ et al., "Nagao Kenichiro" has been active in multi Parupunte was incorporating elements such as shoegazer, of 80s idle culture, psychedelic rock sound is characterized by unit.Worked warm sense of sound image of reverb, incorporating the technique of hip-hop dance music, to realize the infatuation likely to repeat phrases. Interprets the sweet pop song drifting Nosutariji of the contemporary, it is up to create a unique sound. Cults, but catchy pop song drifting nostalgia of such Best Coasts has emerged as a form of one of indie rock, rather than one that is simply imitation its music, unique to Japan Nosutariji "Techno Kayo", "folk rock" and " 80's subculture "incorporating I have evolved as a" new music ".

Apr 18, 2015

We were very happy to discover today's artist. Super Magic Hats is a Melbourne-based musician, beatmaker and producer. This Last Week appears on a collection called Slowly that was released February 28 by the Japanese netlabel Tanukineiri.

They have a wonderful catalog with some intriguing compilations. You can get full release downloads from their website and they also post to both Bandcamp and Soundcloud.

Apr 17, 2015

Getting wild...the weekend is nigh...Thanks to our friends at Netwaves for posting their tribute toDa ! Heard It Records, a netlabel that has catalog going back to 2006.This track comes from a 2009 release called Disco. Puyo Puyo began his musical career as a New Wave drummer and from there began producing his own sounds and touring the continent and Mexico performing a reportedly wild stage show.The liner notes describe the sound:

This album is a delicious witches brew of
German new-wave, Psychopolka, Turbopop and that little Puyesque
je-ne-sais-quoi, iodiosyncratic dissonant melodies, glitch and kitsch
licks.

[Full Disclosure: A radio program by the name of Black Sweater, White Cat first aired on radio station KUGS-FM in the county seat of Bellingham, WA during the 80's...mostly soul, R&B, Afropop and early hip hop.]Ancient Lasers is a project of Daniel Finfer. Inspired by the writings of Ray Kurzweil, he describes his approach:

...While his lyrics may sound like they are a stereo­typ­i­cal explo­ration
of love, romance, and youth­ful bravado, they are actu­ally “a
con­ver­sa­tion between my future and present selves, I’m sort of
talk­ing back and forth through time.”

Apr 15, 2015

This track comes from a Various Artists compilation released on the Foot side of the wonderful netlabel, Bumpfoot. The release is called Footprints 2 and hit the streets on April 21, 2012.Möbius is from Germany and first began to develop musical chops during his gaming sessions using an Amiga 500 in his childhood.

My music can be described as a mixture of Amiga MOD-music, pop, chillout, some breaks, hard basses and a lot of atmosphere.

The netlabel Bumpfoot has been on the scene for many years now and features both "bump" releases and "foot" releases. Both categories have many excellent releases. Footprints 2 is a good starting point to explore the Bumpfoot universe. Möbius - Daft Funk

Apr 14, 2015

To continue from yesterday's post: Blood donation is a good thing...This release, Country Western Star, dropped at the blocSonic netlabel on April 3. It features an extensive collection of the music of Andrew Cosentino. Our selection today was recorded in 2014 and is among the newer of the tracks included on a two disc release (21 tracks in all).Mike Gregoire describes Andrew's sound:

Either way, Andrew’s sound is something unique and the way he merges
live instrumentation with samples is intricate and makes for adventurous
listening. I’m quite sure that this young man has much more to say,
musically and I look forward to what comes next.

If you haven't hipped to the doings at blocSonic, consistency and craftsmanship are the byword for this excellent netlabel.

Astrocowboys are also from St. Petersburg. According to their VK page they seem to have disbanded. It's nice that we have We Give Blood to savor. Blood donation is a good thing.Here is a translation from the Russian of the liner notes for the release:

Life
gives many wonderful moments, but they disappear, to be replaced by
others, which once again we call reality, while the true reality does
not exist, as well as the largest number, more precisely, it always is -
"that moment plus one, and so on "although so want to see this become a
plus at least minus zero as if a miracle is impossible.

There are five tracks on this wonderful release. The musicians are from all over the former Soviet Union:

Their music expresses freedom and euphoria of post-soviet spirit and ancient enigma of Russian Soul. Openhearted shows, multilingual lyrics of "Opa!" and their willingness to give it all to the audience make this wild positive folk remarkable and understandable for everybody.

I'm losing myself in this ethereal collection of old school electronics.

He has been producing and recording music for years, beginning in Lodz, Poland in 1989. He has recorded for television and stage. He has been inspired by Klaus Schultze and Yello. There is quite a range of musical styles on display at Jamendo.Here is a translated snip of his artist statement from Jamendo:

My idea is to combine elements of different musical styles sometimes very distant. In my compositions in addition to the mainstream, which is EL-Music, rub with m.in: trance, goa, electro, house, dark ambient, darkwave, but also unite symphonic music, old, ethnic, elements of hard rock, and other genres.

Apr 6, 2015

Today's feature is a release from the French netlabel, Sirona. This is from a release called Haunted EP It was posted in August of 2012.

Sister Soleil is an eclectic alternative rock outfit founded by Stella Katsoudas and first began working in 1996. They have an impressive resume. The talent and craftsmanship really show through on this release.Sirona has a wide and varied catalog that pretty much is at the Internet Archives through 2012 with the seemingly inevitable migration to Bandcamp with later projects.

Apr 5, 2015

A nice hat tip to Starfrosch for today's post. I love this tune from Space Adept. In fact, I like it more and more as I listen to it.You can find it at their soundcloud page. I'm loving the sound.Here is their brief description from their Spacebook page...er, I mean Facebook page:

Unique sounds, big melodies and driving beats: Space Adept travels with you through the depths of electronic dance music

Apr 4, 2015

Nice groove with cool found vocals. DJ Vincent is from Bucharest, Romania and comes to us via a three song release from the Bulgarian netlabel, Ouim.net.This selection has sat in the BSWC draft posts for over 7 years and is also the title of the release that appeared on July 11, 2007.Vincent Vinyl has worked the club scene in Bucharest for several years. Spend some time with this nice contribution.DJ Vincent Vinyl - Il Cuore D'Eli

Apr 3, 2015

Get the move on. A visit to the iD.EOLOGY netlabel provides this gem of a groove. They've been busy during the last ten years. Great stuff up and down. We highly suggest taking some time and taking a look at what is going on with these guys.Dr. Freebs are really bringing it in this track off their net release, The Freebie Treat. Here is a taste of the liner notes:

When musicality and band-attitude meet slick production-skills, then electronic beats, smart sequencer-lines, soulful vocals and timeless piano-, guitar- and brass-riffs flow into one another almost naturally, without any pretentious, eclecticistic sampling-hullabaloo being required.

Apr 2, 2015

A quick post this morning from a dark and dreamy Seattle cityscape. The release is called Nuclear Hip Hop from Dusted Wax Kingdom artists, Vintage Beats. Now that, my friends, is a sentence. This tasty collection was released on Monday.Dark and dreamy describes this release very well, indeed.There are no notes associated with the release so I don't have much to go on, except the music. Sometimes, it's the music that should carry the day. This is one of those days. Dusted Wax Kingdom is a prolific netlabel out of Varna, Bulgaria and in this phoenix-like resurgence of Black Sweater, White Cat they have quickly become a favorite...

Apr 1, 2015

Found this gem while listening to the latest Netwaves playlist on archive.org. If you are looking for an enduring source of netaudio, the Netwaves radio program out of Brussels as been good for going on 8 years now (weekly).Machette is a French artist who started producing in 2000. This track is from a 2014 release called Flavors EP. It was released by Yarn Audio, a Berlin-based netlabelspecializing in bass driven electronic music.Here is a bit of Machette's description on Bandcamp:

The diverse french producer renders a lot of energy and happiness with his sample-heavy and fast-paced tracks. Influenced byHip-Hop, Dubstep,
Footwork and Jungle, Machette’s broken beats and easygoing melodies are
just perfect for a dance in the sunshine or the ghetto.